Who Wrote ‘A Million Dreams’ From ‘The Greatest Showman’?

With a Grammy-Award winning soundtrack and radio hits like “A Million Dreams,” the 2017 film, The Greatest Showman, imprinted on the musical theater world. Performed by Ziv Zaifman, Hugh Jackman, and Michelle Williams, this song has over 200 million plays on Spotify. Find out who are the writers behind The Greatest Showman’s song, “A Million Dreams.”

‘The Greatest Showman’ soundtrack won a Grammy

The soundtrack for The Greatest Showman gave fans empowering songs, including “A Million Dreams,” sung by Ziv Zaifman, Hugh Jackman, and Michelle Williams. According to Songfacts, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote the song “A Million Dreams.” The writers said they wanted to help move the story along, while showing the dream alive in Hugh Jackman’s character.

“We wanted to show a couple of things,” said Justin Paul in an interview with Genius. “One, that this flame of a dreamer that is Barnum always has a vision. He always wanted life to be larger and colorful than it was. We wanted to show that’s the kind of thing that ran through the character from when he was a kid to being an adult. But for the story, we thought it would also be interesting and ironic that he expresses this dream as a kid and when we meet Hugh Jackman as an adult now. He still has that same dream and he still hasn’t found that thing.”

The writers’ story translated to the screen. In 2018, The Greatest Showman won the Grammy Award for “Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.” Co-songwriters Greg Wells, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Alex Lacamoire accepted the award.

Hugh Jackman | Jun Sato/WireImage

Ziv Zaifman, Hugh Jackman, and Michelle Williams sang the original ‘A Million Dreams’

“A Million Dreams” starts off with a feature from 14-year-old Ziv Zaifman. This young actor began his career at age 10 and guest starred in a 2017 episode of The Blacklist. For The Greatest Showman, Ziv Zaifman plays the young version of P.T. Barnum.

Aside from playing Wolverine, Hugh Jackman is known for his theatrical background and his love of musicals. He starred in the 2012 musical movie, Les Misérables as Jean Valjean. He acted in stage productions like The Boy from Oz, Oklahoma! and Carousel. The performer returns to Broadway in 2020, for the revival of The Music Man.

Michelle Williams stars in The Greatest Showman, alongside Hugh Jackman. This actress portrays Charity Barnum, the wife of P.T. Barnum and featured adult female singer for “A Million Dreams.” Aside from her work on The Greatest Showman, Michelle Williams had the title role in My Week with Marilyn and is rumored to play Janis Joplin in the upcoming movie, Janis.

P!nk at the BRIT Awards 2019 | TOLGA AKMEN/AFP/Getty Images

P!nk covered this song for ‘The Greatest Showman: Reimagined’ soundtrack

In 2018, The Greatest Showman released the second version of their iconic soundtrack. Featuring artists like Pentatonix, Panic! at the Disco, Kelly Clarkson, and P!nk, this album showcased songs like “A Million Dreams” with a pop-music vibe.

The reimagined version of “A Million Dreams” is sung by Grammy-award winning artist, P!nk. The song has almost 50 million plays on Spotify. A reprise of “A Million Dreams” is also featured on The Greatest Showman: Reimagined, starring P!nk’s daughter, Willow Sage Hart. Clips of the mother-daughter duo recording “A Million Dreams” are available on YouTube.